Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Congress raises buprenorphine patient limit
The 2000 legislation that authorized doctors use of buprenorphine for outpatient opiate detox limited doctors to a maximum of 30 patients. Last week, congress passed legislation that would raise the limit to 100 patients. Our own Carl Levin co-sponsored the bill.
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2 comments:
A response to the increase in the number of patients who will be allowed to recieve suboxone. Suboxone is not much different than any of the other dope that has been given to opiate addicts by pharmaceutical companies. I see no reason to trust that they,(pharmaceutical companies), are interested in anything but their bottom line. Suboxone is helpful in a few select cases for opiate addicts or perhaps for chronic pain patients, but to portray it as a cure for opiate addiction is a big mistake. I agree that addiction is a disease and that it should be treated as such in our society, but not all chronic illnesses are best treated with medication. I fear that suboxone will be overprescribed and as a result many people will remain suffering from their illness for longer than they need to. Furthermore, opite addicts are big babies when they don't have their stuff much of the pain from the withdrawal is a only a result of self obsession. To normalize suboxone use in opiate patients will only create more of a stigma among addicts and make it even more difficult for many to get up the courage to detox.
To whatif@earthlink.com:
I rejected your comment. Not because of your opinion on bupe--I agree with you and disagree with the person who wrote the other comment and told him so. In fact, we're working on grants to make bupe available to poor opiate addicts.
I'm rejecting your comment because I've got a no flaming rule. BTW - You made assumptions about him that are not true. He's actually a recovering heroin addict who had bad experiences with methadone. As a result he's skeptical (maybe too skeptical) about pharmacological treatments.
Jason
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